July 23-24, 2025
KEYNOTE ADDRESS: MISSIONARIES OF HOPE AMONG ALL PEOPLES
Rev. Dinh Anh Nhue Nguyen, OFM Conv.
Secretary General of the Pontifical Missionary Union
Synopsis: The keynote address pointed to John 20:10-30, in which the resurrected Christ’s wishing peace unto his disciples and breathes his Spirit upon them, as a starting point for understanding and embodying the mission of hope among all peoples. That wishing of peace, he noted, is not a mere greeting, but an intention of the heart which we, too, are to hold towards others, and the same breath which bishops breathe on the chrism oil used in baptism and confirmation traces back the Christ’s breathe upon the Apostles.
From there, the address pointed to a recent message delivered by Pope Leo XIV to the Pontifical Mission Societies, which highlighted “the promotion of apostolic zeal among the People of God” as “an essential aspect of the Church’s renewal as envisioned by the Second Vatican Council” and “all the more urgent in our own day. Our world, wounded by war, violence and injustice, needs to hear the Gospel message of God’s love and to experience the reconciling power of Christ’s grace.”
Finally, Fr. Anh Nhue described concrete proposals from Pope Francis for the Church’s missionary commitment:
- Focusing on Spirituality in Missionary Action and Promotion: The Word of God and the Eucharist as the Two Foundations
- The Primacy of Christ in Witness and Announcement
- Be Guided by the Holy Spirit for A Spirituality of Communion and Universality
Conversation in the Spirit:
A. What were the points of CONVERGENCE from the conversation in the Spirit?
- Spirituality internal and external, peace, prayer, willingness to do something to (help) accompany other people
- Not being anxious about the talk: peace
- Being open to acquiring the tools to be disciples before we go evangelize
- Renewal, Conversion, Synodality, all can exist
- Be rooted, Hope is essential, Primacy of Christ
- Be intentional, being still to the Spirit not to miss it
- Movement of the Holy Spirit
- Mission is communal, collaborative, synodal
- Ecumenical effort is needed
- Self-examination & conversion is needed for missionary renewal
- Primacy of Christ
- Urgency to address hopelessness, difficulties
- We need the breath of God to go forth (–too often we’re taking away people’s breath, literally or their voice)
- Going forth reveals complexity
- Going to the hopeless? Get grounded in the Spirit
- Spirituality is key to mission or it becomes a job
- Breath is life – comes from God – mission is impossible without God.
- Relationship with God needs to be intimate.
- Our mandate originates through Scripture.
- All of us — “children…elderly” are called to mission.
- Christ is present in the other –> not that we bring Christ to others
- Everyone spoke to the verse from John but picked out slightly different things.
- All were united in the importance of breath in the chrism oil uniting us & taking us on an unbroken journey back to Jesus & actually, all the way back to creation.
- We spoke to the idea of people experiencing pain needed to experience love & listening.
- Primacy of Christ
- Urgency of the Missionary Impulse
- Breathed on
- Peace as gift
- Importance of reflection, slowness, reflection –> Hard to recognize Christ
- Mission – not alone, work of Christ
B. What were the points of DIVERGENCE from the conversation in the Spirit?
- When we encounter someone saying I already have what you are trying to sell me. Use our commonalities as an open door to bridge the differences.
- Desire & urgency for renewal in our hearts feels disconnected from the people in the pews
- Reconciliation is not a popular movement right now
- There is a challenge between grounded resurrection spirituality & living for action (praxis)
C. What seems to be EMERGING from this conversation in the Spirit? What are the key points of why this theme of Missionaries of Hope Among All Peoples is important to mission and evangelization?
- We are called to go out to all peoples and be commissioned.
- Primacy of Christ
- Need for renewal & conversion
- Collaboration & synodality
- Need for the Holy Spirit to lead the work
- Alleluia is our song.
- Hope is essential in our times – conviction that God is in charge.
- We need to bring hope into all our interactions with others.
- We need to have hope to bring it.
- Mission is the responsibility of all of us – we can’t excuse ourselves (even children).
- The fact that we are using a synodal process & listening with our whole selves ties us back to the global Church.
- We are walking together & accompanying each other & others.
- Primacy of Christ
- Urgency of the Missionary Impulse
- Need to a new missionary season
- Time for us to step forward with the Church being alive esp. with youth digital expertise
- Be more intentional with urgency
- Connection of spirituality & action
- Slow down to not miss Holy Spirit/Jesus’ presence in haste to action
ACTION SESSION ONE: BEARERS AND BUILDERS OF HOPE
Shannon Wimp Schmidt
TENx10 Ministries
Synopsis: In this presentation, Shannon Wimp Schmidt emphasized Pope Francis’ reminder that Christians “hand on the Good News by sharing the concrete life situations of those whom they meet…” She named five of those situations affecting people today: global connection, global vulnerability, desire for community, spiritual openness and decolonization. Drawing upon What We Have Seen and Heard: A Pastoral Letter on Evangelization from the Black Bishops of the United States, she noted that the mission of bearing hope must be contextual, holistic, inculturated, biblical and communal. Finally, the evoked Pope Francis’ call that this mission be conducted in “God’s ‘style’,” that is “with closeness, compassion and tenderness, cultivating a personal relationship with our brothers and sisters in their specific situation.”
Conversation in the Spirit:
A. What were the points of CONVERGENCE from the conversation in the Spirit?
- Evangelization communal, relational, & contextual, & holistic
- Representation – seeing yourself somewhere (DIVERSITY) matters
- Themes of relationship, mutuality
- Missionaries are evangelized by the community
- God acts, initiates mission
- We listen, respond, seek Christ as missionaries
- Mother’s love is emblematic of God’s style, but it’s not the only example
- Life is messy & hectic, have trust & grace for yourself to focus on the mission
- Slow down & try to be present to people
- Jesus is within each of us. We are not alone.
- Importance of relationship, being at peace with others & one’s self
B. What were the points of DIVERGENCE from the conversation in the Spirit?
- She is a missionary because she’s baptized!!
C. What seems to be EMERGING from this conversation in the Spirit? What are the key points of why this theme of Bearers and Builders of Hope is important to mission and evangelization?
- Need for accompaniment of each other to others: community is huge
- Accompaniment – different ways, from smile to food – bringing Christ
- Grounded in statistics to see our reality
- Theme = grounded & connected
- Mission is also organization – how do our institutions have a style of closeness, compassion, & tenderness
- Covenant & Mother’s Love
- Take the community seriously – their culture, relationship to God, the context
- Listen to Holy Spirit!
- God is relationship
- Tenderness is key to knowing God.
- We learn more from mistakes & suffering
- Cultivating the deep love & concern for others
- Relationship requires patience, presence
- Christ strengthens & directs us to be builders of hope, even in the messiness of life
ACTION SESSION TWO: IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF CHRIST OUR HOPE
Tisha M. Rajendra, Ph.D.
Loyola University Chicago
Synopsis: Dr. Rajendra grounded her presentation in the “dark shadows” facing our world today, which she described as the “temporary victories of sin/evil” in which we participate, consciously or not. Specifically, she pointed to the ongoing genocide being carried out against the Palestinian people in Gaza, the US Government’s cancellation and revocation of life-saving international aid, and the mass deportations currently taking place in the United States. Dr. Rajendra then explored the meaning of hope, from its every day usage (“I hope x will happen”), from definitions by theologians such as Thomas Aquinas and Norman Wirzba, to her own definition: “not that things will be okay, not for individual salvation, not something that is found: but that it all means something. There is a point.”
From there, Dr. Rajendra explored hope as a virtue and a “mean between [the] extremes” of despair and optimism. A virtue, she explained, is acquired by practice and spreads. The virtue of hope attests that “the future is not yet written” and “it all matters,” is done with others in community and is tied intimately to the Cross.
A. What were the points of CONVERGENCE from the conversation in the Spirit?
- Hope is a challenge
- Be aware of reality in the world – hard to connect with pain of others
- Hope is a gift from God – a call to action to address injustice and despair with goal to bring others into communion with God
- We are called to embrace the cross and focus on the resurrection and transformation that is our confidence
- Hope is renewed by focusing on universal/communion with others
- Nourish our hope by communion with God and others
- Hope is communal; only thru prayer & reflection
- Cross is suffering – if we live/embrace suffering/setback, joy & hope
- Thank God ahead of time
- Hope is living between the despair & optimism & having Christ as the summit of our faith
- Bringing hope to the hopeless & how do we do that is a challenge.
- Hope is a gift from God, 3 things that we matter, I matter & action we do or do not take matter.
- Hope is a mean between optimism & despair
- Hope is integral to the experience of the cross
- Hope is active; it leads us to act
- Common Theme – is the need to listen, without our own preconceived notions getting in the way
- It leads to ability to support, respond in context, & leads to empowerment through our presence
B. What were the points of DIVERGENCE from the conversation in the Spirit?
- Hope is incarnational, but what does that mean?
C. What seems to be EMERGING from this conversation in the Spirit? What are the key points of why this theme of In the Footsteps of Christ Our Hope is important to mission and evangelization?
- What we do matters – need to be active (footsteps)
- Hope – virtue, action, emotion – drives us to act
- Power of one – example of Jesus
- Hope is a gift from God – a call to action to address despair and injustice with goal to bring others into communion with God.
- We’re called to follow Jesus’ footsteps & embrace the cross while focusing on the resurrection and transformation – that is our confidence – our hope.
- We can nourish our hope by communion with God – through His Word & Eucharist – and communion with others who see the world with faith as we do like at this gathering.
- Hope is communal; only thru prayer & reflection
- Cross is suffering – if we live/embrace suffering/setback, joy & hope
- Thank God ahead of time
- Experience of yesterday
- Romans 5:1-5 – includes all (Fr. Ahn presentation)
- Gift of God
- We are missionary by sharing with our presences
- Listen without our own perspectives coloring the message
- Accompanying/walking with them in prayer (with the Holy Spirit, they are sharing before, during, & often)
- Providing compassionate support & leading to their empowerment
ACTION SESSION THREE: RENEWING THE MISSION OF HOPE
William P. Gregory, Ph.D.
Clarke University
Synopsis: In this final session, Dr. Gregory explored the question of “how we in the church can cultivate a spirit of hope in ourselves, in our communities, and in all of God’s people.” He noted that while much of “Christian teaching (that we hear) on mission and evangelization takes the form of basic instruction,” we less often take time “to reflect at length on the difficulties we regularly face in doing these things, and the need we all have for God in order to persevere.”
Dr. Gregory noted that Pope Francis spoke often of hope throughout his papacy and even well before, and that, “His central focus and commitment throughout his pontificate was the church’s missionary renewal.” Based on this and anchored in the writings and experiences of Pope Francis—including his time of exile prior to being named Archbishop of Buenos Aires—Dr. Gregory outlined five main points or principles regarding renewal in the mission of hope: 1) Believe in God’s hope for the world, 2) Accept the cross of love for the world, 3) Resist Desolation, Dream, and Pray, 4) In the dark night, wait in hope and be open to change, and 5) The Lord walks beside us and consoles us.
Dr. Gregory concluded with the words of Pope Francis, noting, among other things, that, “Right now God is with us, supporting us, growing the kingdom, extending his goodness, and beautifying all of creation.”
A. What were the points of CONVERGENCE from the conversation in the Spirit?
- Period of trial – renew us in hope and for mission, brings out perseverance – in those times of desolation turn inward to prayer & meditation
- Time of replenishment & renewal of our own hope to be able to share with others – it sustains our mission
- That prayer, meditation, & the Holy Spirit
- Pope Francis two years in desolation give us hope
- Pope Francis’ writings and life change our perspective on hope.
- Pope Francis wrote extensively on hope and the different dimensions
- We gave ourselves permission to be in desolation.
- Hope is a community effort.
- We have all been through something and had moments that transformed us
- Redemptive suffering & discernment (really from God?) –> We have to make sure. Enables & supports our transformation.
- Life here now is the afterlife –> why do we do all this –> no sane reason except that He died on the cross, it’s why we’re here.
- Hope & mission go together, as long as you have hope you have mission.
- Urgency & compassion for hope
- Migrants & mission converge
- We live out this hope — “a way of being”
B. What were the points of DIVERGENCE from the conversation in the Spirit?
- Progress (ex. immigration) divergence of opinions how to proceed
- Divergence –> take & instrumentalize our religion – one way & no other
- How do you walk with people where they are when they are experiencing despair & how to approach & not deform & push away by making so absolute.
- No perfect policy or plan per se, but Christian hope is embodied
- How do we respond to issue of immigration – actions/strategies –> a polarizing issue in the US.
C. What seems to be EMERGING from this conversation in the Spirit? What are the key points of why this theme of Renewing the Mission of Hope is important to mission and evangelization?
- Hope doesn’t disappoint.
- With God all things are possible.
- We worship a God of all hopefulness.
- Evil will not win.
- Prayer opens the flood gates of hope and mercy.
- Mission is an invitation to renew our hope; to persevere and trust.
- We believe, but sometimes in our own hearts we doubt.
- Let us trust that our good efforts will be fruitful and when we face the temptations of the evil one, grow closer to God.
- Christian heart binds us to the needs of others.
- It’s Christ centered & not me-centered & if this happens, we can be in hope of Christ which is mission in its simplicity.
- When we are with others we have to walk & be with them where they are at by listening & this is where Christ is able to transform & mission happens.
- Address this issue – reflect & act – is aspirational matter
- We must connect Church teachings to reality and then prayer & action for all people of faith